


Doomed Together

by botgal



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Doomed Timelines, F/M, Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Pre-Sgrub, Talking To Dead People, Was feeling kind of morbid when i wrote it, so here you go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 21:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12491664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/botgal/pseuds/botgal
Summary: A new ghost appears in Damara's hive one day. An acquaintance from the internet who is apparently now dead.He's not bad company.





	Doomed Together

You first met the strange ghost one day while up late on your computer.

Browsing through different websites about menial everynight matters, you had taken a pause to look up at your block for some reason or other. A felt presence or a noise you couldn't really say. But there he was. Floating in the corner of your respite block. None of the other ghosts who frequented your place of rest payed him much mind, save for the typical glances of curiosity when a new spirit appears in your presence.

His eyes are blank as pearls, and his clothes a simple black (so strange for a ghost of the modern day to not wear even a hint of their color). But you don't need the help of either of these to tell what his blood color is. It's already stained his face from his lips down his chin. An eternal patch of blood that appears forever moist and shiny on his skin, but will never dry and cannot be wiped away.

He asks you if your name is Damara. Curious as to just how he knows who you are, you nod that you are, and ask him how he knows you. He says that his name is Kankri Vantas. You recognize the name. Someone from one of your chat groups who hadn't logged on in a long time. A few of your internet friends were getting curious about why the chatty culled boy had suddenly vanished. Not even like when his culler apparently took his husktop when he'd gone past his time to use it. Just dropped out of everything he ever spoke in that you knew of.

You tell him as much and he affirms this information. He is indeed that Kankri Vantas. He is dead, you say, as if saying so will give you anything more to say on the matter.

So he is, he replies. Killed himself. Doesn't say how, but you guess some form of poison or overdose from the stains around his mouth. This he does not confirm for you. Leaving you a sense of curiosity if not curiosity about him. It's more in the sense of morbid curiosity that you ask why he chose to do it. Specters who you have met rarely wish to discuss their reasons if you ask them, but it's habit to do so by this point.

He mentions only something about his culler before he goes silent on the matter altogether.

Kankri doesn't stick around for long periods at a time, but he always comes back. Where he goes to when he's not in your respite block, you don't know. But he becomes a semi-permanent fixture in your life. Floating near your corners and your bed. Unlike most of the ghosts that drift on through, he's willing to talk to you if you steer him the right way. It's nice to have some company at times.

You do eventually learn why he chose to do what he did, and become a ghost. Abuse by a culler. Forced into a quadrant. Among other awful things You're not surprised. Most members of the Lost Weeaboos know about the worst horror stories to tell around the occasional fire or festival. His case is not too unusual, but you still find it sad. You would have liked to meet him when you were alive. Maybe you both could have become friends.

One night, one of your other internet acquaintances, Meenah, rounds you up for a game she's setting up. Kankri seems more despondent than usual. He says that you're all going to die. Everyone who plays the game, and even those who don't. The game will cause the end of the world and no one will be spared.

He doesn't think you deserve to die. Not the way you will. He knows how you will all die but refuses to tell you. He doesn't want his culler to die either. He's afraid of her still. He fears meeting her in the afterlife and what would happen if she saw him again. So you make him a promise. If he stays with you when you enter the game, and comes with you, then you will stay with him when you die as well. And protect him from who or whatever you may come across.

Perhaps it's strange when you realize you've begun feeling pale for a ghost. But then it's probably stranger to accept that a game is going to destroy your whole world.

It's a morbid thought, that you will have no choice but to die in your future. But not one that altogether bothers you too much. You've spent your life around ghosts. Death is as much a part of life to you as living is. You'll just be moving on to the next step.

And perhaps it's comforting, in a way, knowing that your ghost boy will be waiting for you, even in the face of inevitable failure and death.

At least there will be a familiar face when you get there.

 


End file.
